Ascorbic acid dough

There are a few areas in the subjects covered by this book where unfortunately the same words or are used to describe different things. They are gluten and flour improver. In food law a flour improver would cover a substance added to flour to improve its performance, usually in bread. Such a substance is ascorbic acid. In a bakery, the expression flour improver covers a mixture that is added to the dough. In this context a flour improver will contain not only substances like ascorbic acid but also, for example, enzyme active soya flour, emulsifiers and possibly fat. 

The action of ascorbic acid in the dough is to strengthen the gluten, which improves gas retention and hence the volume of loaves is improved. Ascorbic acid is faster acting than potassium bromate, which why ascorbic acid has always been associated with rapid processes. 

Grosch, W., Wieser, H. 1999. Redox reactions in wheat dough is affected by ascorbic acid. J Cereal Sci 29 1-16. 

The precise mode of action of ascorbic acid as a dough improver continues to challenge cereal chemists. The early postulation of Maltha... 

Figure 14. Reactions of glutathione in dough in the presence of ascorbic acid. GSH-DH, glutathione dehydrogenase Trot, protein. (Reproduced, with permission, from Ref. 584. Copyright 1979, Blackwell Scientific Publications Limited.)...

Thermal Analysis and Textural Properties of Frozen French Bread Dough with Different Quantities of Ascorbic Acid... 

Four formulations were used to produce French bread dough with different ascorbic acid quantities, as listed in Table 27.1. AACC 54-21 (AACC, 1995), a commercial bakers flour (Moinho Pacifico, Brazil) with a water content of 13.60% and farinograph water absorption of 65.60%, was used for all formulations. 

Resistance to extension (force in N) and extensibility (distance in mm) of French bread dough according to ascorbic acid quantities for all periods [a, b] and to frozen storage for all formulations up to 13 days [c, d]. 

Nakamura, M. and Kurata, T. Effects of L-ascorbic acid on the rheological properties of wheat flour dough. Cereal Chem., 74, 647, 1997. 

L-Ascorbic acid is very widely used in bread baking, where it is present as a flour improver . In practice, this means that the addition of L-ascorbic acid improves the bread texture and the size of the resulting loaf, the dough has greater elasticity, increased gas retention. 

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